His saying: “O Allah, Lord of this perfect call”: the perfect call is the call to prayer, for it is an invitation. It is described as perfect because it encompasses the magnification and affirmation of the oneness of Allah, testimony to the Messenger’s mission, and the call to goodness.

His saying, “O Allah, Lord”: Allah is pronounced with a ḍammah ending, and “Lord” with a fatḥah ending, because Allah is a singular proper noun and is therefore built upon the ḍammah, whereas “Lord” is in a construct phrase and is therefore in the accusative case. This is because a vocative noun—or that which stands in apposition to it—when it is annexed, is in the accusative case.

His saying, “O Allah,” is a vocative expression from which the vocative particle has been omitted and compensated for by the letter mīm. The mīm is placed after the Divine Name, seeking blessing through beginning with the Name of Allah. The letter mīm, rather than any other letter, was chosen to indicate plurality—as though the supplicant gathers his heart upon his Lord, exalted is He, and upon that which he wishes to ask of Him.

His saying, “Lord”: here, “Lord” means the One who possesses this call and legislated it. If “Lord” were understood to mean “Creator,” this would present a difficulty, because this call contains the Names of Allah, and they are uncreated, since they are part of the speech by which He has informed us about Himself, and His speech is uncreated. However, if “Lord” is interpreted as “Creator,” with reference to the utterance that is the action of the caller to prayer, then there is no difficulty in that.

“And of the established prayer …”

His saying, “and of the established prayer,” means: and Lord of this established prayer. What is being referred to is what a person forms in his mind, because when you hear the call to prayer, you envisage that there is a prayer. As for “established,” the scholars said: it is the prayer that will be established; thus, it is described as established in consideration of what will be. (1)